7th California Infantry Regiment

7th California Volunteer Infantry
Active	December 1864 to June 28, 1866
Country	United States
Allegiance	United States Union
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Part of	Department of the Pacific
Nickname(s)	"Gold Diggers," "Hungry Seventh"
Equipment	Springfield Rifle
Commanders
Notable commanders	Colonel Charles W. Lewis

The 7th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific, serving in California and Arizona Territory. They were known as the "Gold Diggers" in reference to the large number of recruits from the California's "Mother Lode" region. Later, they were also called the "Hungry Seventh" for the privations they suffered in Arizona, particularly at Fort Mason. The Regiment included many veterans of the Mexican–American War.

While the Regiment was being organized and trained at the Presidio of San Francisco, Jonathan D. Stevenson presented them with the regimental flag of the unit he commanded in the Mexican–American War: The 7th New York Volunteers. The Regiment continued to carry this flag throughout its service, and it flew over Fort Mason during their time there.

In the Spring of 1865, the Regimental Headquarters and Companies D, E, and G were assigned to Tubac, Arizona Territory. Though they were there primarily to operate against the Apaches, they were also assigned the job of reinforcing the International Line against potential incursions by the forces of the Mexican Empire and its French allies. As part of the ongoing war of the French Intervention, Imperialist forces had made recent advances into the neighboring Mexican State of Sonora, causing considerable alarm among officials in the United States.

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